Retirement Community Uses JetStor to Archive 30 Days of Video

Video cameras have proven to enhance a community’s public safety. The Osborn, the premier retirement community in New York’s Westchester Country, wanted to offer its retired seniors this extra measure of safety as well as monitor its staff.

The Osborn also wanted to archive its video for a month as a record of resident and staff activities. With 100 cameras initially deployed across its 56-acre campus and plans for 100 more, the retirement community needed a storage solution that is robust, economical, and easy to manage.

Read more about how this leading retirement community deployed JetStor Raid Arrays to retain its video records and bolster the security of its residents

The Osborn Delivers an Extra Measure of Retirement Security with JetStor RAID Arrays

THE ORGANIZATIONRetirement is hardly more elegant than at The Osborn Retirement Community. Situated on 56 landscaped acres in Rye, New York, The Osborn is Westchester County’s premier retirement community. Since 1908, the non-profit facility has provided retirees uncommonly gracious amenities to pursue “a sophisticated lifestyle that’s fun-loving, cultured, and energetic, yet also relaxing.”

Today, its 500 residents enjoy both independent and assisted care living with a full range of senior care services.

THE CHALLENGE Although the Osborn earned its reputation for excellence by focusing on the well-being of its residents, the retirement community wanted to do more. It sought to further ensure the safety of its seniors by monitoring indoor and outdoor public areas throughout its sprawling campus.

To meet this objective, The Osborn required an enterprise-wide video surveillance system. “Video surveillance would bolster security and let us better support our residents,” said Richard F., Director of Information Technology, The Osborn Retirement Community. “We’d be able to quickly locate residents who may appear missing as well as monitor our staff to ensure they deliver high-quality services.”

Administrators, however, wanted to do more than monitor live video feeds. They also needed to store the video to preserve a record of resident and staff actions. “We required a storage solution that was economical, reliable, and easy to use,” said Richard. “We didn’t want our staff to continually swap VHS tapes within banks of videocassette recorders, which would have been burdensome.”

To meet its needs, The Osborn turned to Omni Data, a leading provider of technology solutions based in Woodbridge, Connecticut. Omni Data proposed an effective solution.

BENEFITS IMMEDIATELY REALIZEDIn concert with Omni Data, The Osborn deployed a comprehensive IP video surveillance system that is supported by a Gigabit Ethernet network and two JetStor RAID Arrays. The facility’s staff can monitor the retirement community by viewing live color feeds from any of a 100 cameras positioned in hallways, stairwells, and public spaces as well as along well-tended gardens, greens, and walkways. The digital streams are then stored on the JetStor platforms for four weeks, after which they are replaced by new footage.

“An IP video surveillance system eliminates the tedium of swapping analog tape cassettes every eight hours once they fill up,” explained Richard. “The JetStors easily archive the 30 terabytes of data that we archive at any one time, all but automating video storage. Their capacity will also support the 200 cameras we’ll soon install for more extensive coverage of our campus.”

By turning to JetStor platforms, The Osborn simplified oversight of its residents. Unlike some competing solutions, the two JetStor chassis let administrators pool storage into one 30 terabyte logical volume. “JetStors are not limited to 2 terabyte pools,” said Scott S., Director of Sales, Omni Data. “With 100 cameras in use, 2 terabyte pools would have filled up quickly, forcing staff to constantly redirect data to new volumes. Even when The Osborn deploys twice as many cameras, the JetStors will store the data without continual manual intervention.”

As a result, the JetStor solutions allow staff to keep their eyes on residents rather than the storage infrastructure. “The JetStors simply work without issues,” said Richard. “And as RAID arrays, they also ensure our video is preserved without any data loss.” The Osborn now augments its impressive amenities and services with even greater security and protection for its seniors. “We can keep a watchful eye on our residents and rapidly respond to any needs they may have,” said Richard. “We’re safeguarding their quality of life, and thanks to solutions like our JetStors, we doing this easily and cost-efficiently.”

HOW WE DID ITTo deploy IP video surveillance, The Osborn uses HP ProCurve 2520 switches to collect digital feeds from the cameras. The devices forward the data at Gigabit Ethernet speed to an HP ProCurve 3500 core switch, which distributes the video to Milestone IP Video Management Software running on three HP ProLiant 380 servers. The Milestone application enables staff to view any camera feeds; it also detects any motion in the video and delivers www.omnianswers.net/ just that footage to the JetStor arrays for storage. “By saving only images in which people actually move, we don’t store hours of empty stairways, conserving space on our JetStors,” said Richard.

The JetStor arrays appear to the Milestone solution as a single storage trove. The JetStor 516iS chassis receives the video feeds and stores them on its 2 terabyte disks and those of the JetStor 516J device. The RAID 5 setting delivers block-level striping across multiple disks for both data availability and strong read/write performance. “Even if a disk fails, we won’t lose a frame,” said Richard. “The JetStors have proven to be high-value solutions, offering excellent build quality and very competitive pricing and cost per terabyte of storage.”

CONCLUSION As organizations, companies, and government agencies turn to video surveillance to bolster security and oversight, The Osborn demonstrates that an IP solution with reliable, easy-to-use storage like JetStor RAID Arrays is a cost-efficient strategy.

“The JetStors are the best bang for the storage buck,” said Sebastian. “They provide the features of other storage systems, but more economically. AC&NC is also a good company to work with, not just for its products but also for its outstanding customer service. As a technology integrator, that’s important to us and it’s another reason why we recommend JetStor solutions to our customers.”